This new cultivar is a product of a longstanding detailed program of interspecific hybridization and selection of dogwoods, in this instance a cross of an F1 interspecific hybrid of Cornus kousa×C. florida ‘Sweetwater’ backcrossed to an unrelated C. kousa. The progeny were carefully retained and characteristics analyzed for their differences and outstanding value as potential commercial varieties or cultivars.
The particular seedling hereof were selected from certain progeny grown in a cultivated area and, as a result, have in turn been asexually reproduced by grafting, usually by T-budding or chip-budding. It can also be propagated by softwood stem cuttings. The reproduction and actual growth and selection of the new cultivar took place in the vicinity of New Brunswick, N.J. and has been found to be distinctive as to its winter-hardiness in that area, USDA Plant Hardiness Map Zone 6a. This new cultivar is stable and reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
As will be understood from the detailed description of the invention that appears hereinafter, the new cultivar is in fact outstanding and readily identified as such. With the foregoing in mind, the description that follows will be understood as clearly defining the new cultivar, the desirable characteristics of which are the result of such a program as has been heretofore suggested.